Mobile computing devices, such as smart phones, may provide various processing capabilities. For example, mobile devices may provide personal digital assistant (PDA) features, including word processing, spreadsheets, synchronization of information (e.g., e-mail) with a desktop computer, and so forth. In addition, such devices may have wireless communications capabilities. More particularly, mobile devices may employ various communications technologies to provide features, such as mobile telephony, mobile e-mail access, web browsing, and content (e.g., video and radio) reception. Exemplary wireless communications technologies include cellular, satellite, and mobile data networking technologies.
Providing such an array of functionality in a single device may require one or more wireless transceivers. Each wireless transceiver may be associated with one or more wireless communication technologies and each may each consume device power. When the device is operated in an area in which fewer than all of the available wireless communication technologies are available, operating each wireless transceiver may consume device power unnecessarily. It may be advantageous to disable one or more unavailable or underperforming wireless transceivers to conserve power, improve performance and improve the user experience based on a location of the device if it known that certain wireless communication technologies are not available at that location. As a result, it is desirable to enhance the dynamic selection, enabling or disabling of wireless communications technologies or wireless transceivers. For example, it may be advantageous to dynamically disable a wireless communication technology or wireless transceiver based on a location of a mobile computing device and information from a wireless communication technology database. Consequently, there exists a substantial need for techniques to improve the management of mobile computing device power consumption based on wireless transceivers or wireless communication technologies.